The Ecstasy of Gold

"The Ecstasy of Gold" is a musical composition by Ennio Morricone, part of his score for the Sergio Leone film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". It is played while Tuco (Eli Wallach) is frantically searching a graveyard for the grave that holds $200,000 in gold coins.

Other uses

* American thrash metal band Metallica has used "The Ecstasy of Gold" as the introductory music for its concerts since 1983; cite news | url=http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=600114 | title=We All Love Ennio Morricone | publisher=Metallica.com | accessdate=2007-03-11 ] it is included on the live symphonic album "S&M". A guitar cover by Metallica appears on the 2007 Morricone tribute album "We All Love Ennio Morricone". This rock version was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
* Since moving to XM Satellite Radio in 2004, talk radio duo Opie and Anthony have used the original recording and various covers to open their live broadcasts, best-of compilations, and to end "The Walkover" bit.
* American punk rock band Ramones has used "The Ecstasy of Gold" as the introductory music for its concerts.
* Famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma recorded this song in his tribute album, "Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone.". cite news | url=http://www.yo-yoma.com/ | title=Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone | publisher=Yo-yoma.com | accessdate=2007-11-13 ]
* The opening scene of "Jackass Number Two" (2006), in which the cast is chased through a suburban neighborhood by bulls, is accompanied by this piece. cite news | url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493430/movieconnections | title=Movie connections for Jackass Number Two (2006) | publisher=Imdb.com | accessdate=2007-11-13 ]
* It is used for the beat on Jay-Z's song entititled "Blueprint 2", on his album Blueprint 2: The Gift and The Curse.:*The Game uses the "Blueprint 2" beat at the end of his diss track 300 Bars and Runnin'.
* It is sampled for a Breez Evahflowin track featuring Immortal Technique titled "Land of the Gun" on the album Stronghold Mixtape Vol. 2
* It is also heavily sampled for the western themed RPG Wild Arms as the world map theme.
* At T in the Park 2007, Kasabian, headlining the NME Stage on Sunday night, used "The Ecstasy of Gold" as their walk-on music. It was also used when they played the Edinburgh Hogmanay "Concert in the Park" for 2007/8 New Year.
* It was used by Independent professional wrestler Eddie Kingston as his entrance music early to mid 2007.
* Used by the ICTV show DP Show as background music during a sketch while actor Jonathan Hirschberg shaved his beard after being tired of being typecast as bearded men.
* One show at the The Fountains at Bellagio in front of the Bellagio Resort & Casino is set to the musical piece. The show starts out with water ran through a vaporizer before the fountains go off.
*Three 6 Mafia samples this on a beat they produced for Bone Thugs N Harmony called "We Workin".

References